


Making Amends

by Coconut_Slayer



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: GAAY, Guzma is like twenty-three probably, Guzma is tall, Guzma's going through an identity crisis, M/M, Self-Improvement, Slow Burn, Sorry guys, Swearing, You are a twenty year-old guy, a full chapter of set-up stuff, background information is pretty tedious, how else should I tag this, just skip to chapter two, lol idk, maybe smut later on, pretty slow intro, so if you don't want to read that, you run a pokemon nursery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2018-09-20 15:08:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9497702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coconut_Slayer/pseuds/Coconut_Slayer
Summary: You've worked hard to get where you are now, and honestly, you're pretty proud of yourself. You're doing what you love - caring for, breeding, and raising pokemon - and making a living off of it. That's pretty impressive considering your young age. You get troublesome customers; that's a given. But dealing with the ex-boss of Team Skull? That was something you weren't prepared for.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so normally I don't write these, but I have such strong feelings for this guy that I just had to. So, hopefully you get some enjoyment out of this self-indulgence.

You started breeding by accident when you were eleven. Your family was about to leave on a vacation to the Sinnoh region, and the hotel you were going to didn't allow guests to let their pokemon out. Jerks. You couldn't bear to keep your Yungoos and Rattata cooped up for that long, so you decided to put them in the pokemon nursery until you got back. When you got back from vacation to pick up your buddies, voila. You were given an egg along with your two pokemon. It was downhill from then on. Your interest was perked, and you started going out on your own more often, armed to the teeth with poke balls, eagerly searching out new pokemon to put in the nursery. Sometimes, the pairing produced eggs, but other times it didn't. At this point you had no idea what the implications of breeding were. You didn't know what actually produced the egg. You just knew that if you put two pokemon in the nursery, sometimes the caretakers would give you an egg. When you asked them where the egg came from, they would sweat slightly before stammering out that they didn't know, that it was a total mystery. Now, of course, you knew they were just trying to protect your innocence. But back then, you had just shrugged and accepted the answer. You were quite the naive child. 

When you were thirteen, you had built quite the arsenal of pokemon. You had filled ten PC boxes with them, and you were finally beginning to understand the mechanics behind breeding and how to successfully get an egg. To produce an egg, you must put two pokemon in the nursery: one male and one female. Alternatively, you figured out that if you put a Ditto in with any pokemon, regardless of gender (and even if it didn't have a gender), an egg would be produced. You were slightly less innocent at thirteen, and had watched enough documentaries in school to realize what was going on at the nursery. The pokemon you put in the nursery had to be somewhat genetically similar to each other to be able to successfully mate and produce offspring. You could put a Spearow and a Pikipek into the nursery and get an egg back, but good luck trying to get a Zubat and a Makuhita to breed. Gestation periods for pokemon were different depending on the pokemon. Some layed eggs immediately after mating, some layed eggs before fertilization, and others took several days or weeks to lay their eggs. Different species of pokemon eggs took different amounts of time to hatch. 

At the age of fifteen, you had started breeding pokemon at home. In your backyard. Needless to say, your parents weren't too thrilled about the prospect of their son methodically getting pokemon to do the nasty on their own property; but hey, at least you were doing something. You had also started selling your pokemon to people. It started at school, where you overheard one of your classmates complaining about the rarity of Bagon to his friend. Now, you didn't particularly like this guy (he was a bit of a show-off and had a little bit too high of an opinion of himself), but your ears pricked up when you heard the name Bagon. You had captured a Bagon when you were twelve. It had taken a lot of hard work to find it, and after you did you had wasted no time in breeding it. You had five in your PC right now. You would have had more, but Bagon eggs took a ridiculously long time to hatch. So, sensing an opportunity, you swung around in your seat, effectively straddling it. You propped your elbow up on the kid's desk, and with your most charming smile, informed him that you actually had a Bagon for sale at the moment. 

The kid had stared at you for a second, a little taken aback by the sudden intrusion. He then cleared his throat. "Really?"

You nodded.

The kid narrowed his eyes, suddenly suspicious. "How do I know you're not just pullin' my leg, huh?"

You held up your hands in mock surrender. "I promise I'm not. On lunch break I can show you the pokemon. If you still want it, we can talk about prices."

The kid looked at his friend, who shrugged. You made one thousand pokedollars that day. Not bad for your first sale. After that, word spread about the kid with the rare pokemon, and more and more of your peers began approaching you wanting one species or another. You were more than happy to oblige. You had caught nearly every pokemon on Melemele Island, and even some on other islands, which you had traveled to on weekends and breaks for precisely that purpose. You had especially sought out the rare ones, like Lapras (Lapras was fucking terrifying to encounter in the wild, by the way. The thing is literally an eight-foot tall sea monster). 

It was only a matter of time after that that people started wanting pokemon with specific attributes. Some wanted pokemon that could move really fast in battle. Others wanted very powerful pokemon, or healthy, sturdy pokemon who could last a long time in a battle. Some wanted all of the above. This is the point where you had to start doing your homework, figuratively speaking. You had to read up on more of the advanced aspects of breeding. It was not fun. The basics of it were pretty simple, you supposed. Breed a strong pokemon with another strong pokemon, and it would produce another strong pokemon. The problem was actually finding pokemon who were actually this strong in the wild. Just like people, some pokemon are naturally stronger or faster or healthier than others of their species. Also like people, most pokemon weren't all that great physically. It was rare to find one that was exceptionally gifted. It was even rarer to find one that was this good at multiple things. The most you could do was find two pokemon that were pretty good at certain things and cross your fingers that their offspring would inherit all of their best genes. 

The customers who wanted a pokemon with only one specific attribute were easier to take care of than those who wanted practically perfect pokemon. With the former, you only really needed to hunt around in the wild long enough to find a particularly agile pokemon, or whatever it was they wanted. With the latter, you absolutely had to breed. It was almost impossible to find perfect pokemon in the wild, so the best you could do was catch a fast pokemon and a strong pokemon, breed them, and hope they produced a fast and strong offspring. 

It took you two months to breed your first perfect pokemon: a Rockruff. You actually had to resort to inbreeding the dogs. Inbreeding can concentrate the negative aspects of the genepool into the offspring, but it can also concentrate the positive as well. That's what you were banking on, and it actually worked. You felt extremely guilty about it afterwards. What if it hadn't gone as you had hoped, and you had brought a disabled puppy with some sort of horrible recessive disease into the world? You vowed never to sink that low again. You wanted to be a respectable breeder, after all, and you didn't want to keep relying on risky practices to get results. Nonetheless, the resulting baby Rockruff was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. The stones around her neck were shiny and even. Her coat was glossy, her temperament was perfect, and she ended up being the fastest and strongest of her litter. She was the picture of perfect health. You were almost sorry to give her to the customer, having half a mind to keep the little dog for yourself. 

By the time you graduated, you had compiled enough money to move out and get your own place. You knew you were going to continue to breed, so you chose a property with a lot of land in the back. Granted, the actual house was small and dinky, but you didn't mind. You didn't want to live in luxury - you just wanted to continue doing what you loved. Your peers from school continued going to you for pokemon, and word had spread beyond the school to Hau'oli City and Iki Town that you were the most reliable and reputable breeder in the area. You made sure to get your customers exactly what they wanted, how they wanted it. You began getting so much business that you had to start hiring workers to help manage all the pokemon you were caring for. You cleaned up your property, making the building more presentable and slapping a sign above the door that said "Y/N's Pokemon Breeding." 

You now have a steady, reliable business, and you are only twenty. That's a pretty big accomplishment, if you do say so yourself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if this was boring, I'm just trying to make sure y'all know what's going on before the real story actually starts. Also, I'm rereading this and I sound really like, cold and calculating and I'm really sorry, but things will get warmer and fuzzier and more personal very soon, I just had to set up a base for the story (which unfortunately required a lot of summary). Also lol I don't know what to call the business so if anyone has an idea please let me know. I hope everyone reading this has a good day. :]


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fanfic, so I'm open to criticism! I actually want you guys to comment so I know how I'm doing and if I could be doing something better.

You approached the Growlithe, tiptoeing as quietly as you could, tennis racket in hand. The Growlithe sniffed the air warily before crouching into a defensive stance, growling deep in his throat. You stopped in your tracks. The Growlithe stopped growling, but continued to glare at you, daring you to come any closer. You kept your breathing even, staring him straight in the eyes. You couldn't show any weakness in front of these things, or they would not respect you. You started walking towards him again, keeping the racket between your bodies as a shield. The Growlithe resumed his growling, snarling and curling his lip over his bared teeth. You stopped when you had cornered the pokemon against a fence, and crouched down in front of him. The Growlithe stood frozen, tail high in the air, growling and locking you with his gaze, trying to assert dominance over you. You didn't move. Suddenly, the pokemon lunged. You moved the racket, blocking him. His teeth clattered uselessly against the woven mesh, and he lurched backwards in confusion. He tried this a few more times, you blocking his every attempt with the racket. Finally, he stopped trying, panting, and slowly lowered his tail between his legs: the classic sign of submission. You lowered your racket, gauging his reaction. He remained motionless. You rummaged through your bag and brought out a poke bean. You held it out to him. He sniffed the air and edged a little closer to you before snatching the bean from your hand. He gulped it down quickly and stared at you expectantly. You laughed. "Good boy," you said gently, and offered him another. He did the same with this one, licking his lips afterwards and letting his tongue loll out. You smiled and took out a poke ball this time, booping his nose gently with the central button. The Growlithe was enveloped in red light and sucked into the ball. You set the ball on the ground in front of you. The ball wiggled a little before becoming motionless once more. You let out a huge sigh of relief and picked up the ball.

Growlithe were extremely high-spirited pokemon, and you always had to use a lot of caution while trying to capture them. Of course, you could also have simply weakened the pokemon like most trainers and then thrown a poke ball at it, but you weren't like most trainers. You preferred to get the pokemon to trust you and want to come with you before you caught it. You never liked seeing pokemon get hurt if they didn't need to be. Plus, it made the whole process of bonding a lot easier and a lot less painless. This particular Growlithe you had caught for a customer who wanted an adamant-natured Growlithe. This Growlithe had certainly been adamant. Most Growlithe weren't that stubborn and would at least regard you with curiosity and not with such unyielding stubbornness.

You used your ride pager and waited until you spotted the Charizard swooping toward you over the horizon. It landed in front of you and crouched so you could get on. You hopped on, pat its head, and told it to take you back to the nursery. When you landed, you gave the Charizard a poke bean and sent it on its way. Almost immediately, one of your workers ran up to you.

"Boss! Did you get the Growlithe all right?" she asked breathlessly.

You blinked. "Yeah. Uh, is something wrong, Eliza?"

Eliza shook her head, her brown curls whipping back and forth across her face."No, but I just had the greatest idea! What if, instead of having to go out and catch pokemon with certain natures every time a customer wants one, we just catch a whole bunch of Dittos with different natures and just breed the natures onto whatever pokemon the customer wants? We are a breeding company, after all."

You tilted your head, considering the idea. "Huh. I've actually never thought of that. That's a great idea, Eliza. How about you gather up Alana and Manu and head up Mount Hokulani to go get some? I believe we already have naughty, brave, and quirky Dittos."

Eliza blinked. "Right now, sir? But the pokemon -"

You waved her off. "Why not? I'll take care of the pokemon and the customers while you're gone. Besides, I've got my own pokemon to help me. Catching that many Dittos is a big job. They're pretty rare. You're going to need at least three people."

Eliza hesitated, then nodded. "Yes, sir, right away!" She rushed off to gather her colleagues. You grinned. Eliza was adorable. She had been working for you for six months now, and still carried that air of new employee around her, always trying her best to please you.

You went inside the main building. This was not only where you lived, but it was where you interacted with customers. You had built a little counter near the door, where one of your employees was typically manned. Behind the counter was a staircase that led to the attic, where your room was. To the right of the counter opened up a cozy waiting room filled with plush couches and armchairs. There, several windows opened up to a view of your property: sprawling green fields where your pokemon could be seen playing in the fresh air. You used this space to talk to customers; see what they wanted, decide on prices, get a feel for what kind of pokemon would suit them best.

After opening the windows to let in said fresh air, you sat down on the stool behind the counter and picked up the telephone off the receiver. You checked the list of customer contact information on your computer before dialing the number of the woman who wanted the Growlithe. The tone rang three times before she picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hello, ma'am. I've got your Growlithe right here. It's a male, and it looks to be the most adamant Growlithe I've ever seen, so whenever you've got the chance, would you like to swing by to see if he's to your liking?"

"Ah, yes, thank you very much! I would love to. Expect me there tomorrow at around... six in the evening?"

"Sure, ma'am, whenever you want. I'll make sure your Growlithe is comfortable and well-fed until you arrive."

"Again, thank you so much! I'll see you then." She hung up. You put the phone back down onto the receiver and leaned forward onto the counter. You couldn't leave the front desk until Eliza and her friends got back in case a customer came around, so you decided to just make yourself comfortable. You let out your Decidueye. He was always a reliable pokemon.

"Hey, Decidueye, buddy," you said amiably. "Could you help me out here and chaperone the pokemon in the back? Come tell me if there's any trouble." Decidueye nodded and gave you a little two-feathered salute to let you know he understood, then disappeared out the back door. You watched him go, then closed your eyes and sighed contentedly. It was a beautiful day outside, and the breeze that blew through the open windows felt great on your skin. You played solitaire for a little while on the computer, then pulled out your pokedex to shoot Eliza a text.

 **You:** _yo, Liz. How’s it going?_

Almost immediately you got a response.

 **Eliza:** _great, boss! weve already caught five dittos between the three of us_

 **You:** _That’s great! Do you guys need a break? You don’t have to do this all in one day, y’know._

 **Eliza:** _oh no boss were fine. its better to get it all done at once than having it hanging over your head_

You snorted. Eliza was a workaholic. She would probably stay there through the night looking for Dittos if she could. You wondered if she was forcing the other two to stay there.

 **You:** _Are the other two doing okay?_

**Eliza:** _yeah, theyre fine_

You shrugged. Okay.

**You:** _Tell them to let me know if they’ve had enough._

**Eliza:** _sure thing!_

You tucked your dex back into your pocket before directing your attention back to solitaire. It was a pretty slow day so far. The only customer you'd had was the woman who wanted the Growlithe, and you'd already taken care of that. So, here you were, trying not to fall asleep as the warm breeze blew tantalizingly against your skin.

You were jolted awake from your doze by the sound of the bell as someone opened the door. You turned your head to greet the customer with a warm smile when -

_Oh._

Your smile froze on your face when you recognized the man who'd just entered the building. You'd seen those heavy-lidded grey eyes before, on the cover of newspapers and news articles, usually with a caption along the lines of _"Tourists Terrorized by Local Gang,"_ or   _"More Pokemon Stolen by Notorious Street Thugs."_

It was the leader of Team Skull.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohh man here we go.


	3. Chapter 3

The man closed the door behind him, then strode across the room. He had a head of shaggy white hair over a black undercut. Dyed, you supposed. A pair of funky-looking shades pulled back most of the hair out of his face. He wore a black jacket over a plain white t-shirt, as well as baggy black sweats and white vans. His eyes were dark grey and heavily-lidded. And was he wearing... eye-shadow? The way he carried himself practically oozed confidence and purpose. He reminded you of the more popular guys you used to go to school with: the swag bags, you called them. He reached the counter and rested his forearms on it. God, he was tall; he definitely wasn't trying to hide it either. He practically towered over you. You cleared your throat and tried to compose yourself. He was a customer, after all. At least, you hoped he was. Otherwise you would be calling the police. 

"Hello, sir. How can I help you?" you said, in what you hoped was a cheerful, welcoming tone.

The man snorted. "Cut the crap. You know who I am. No need to act all polite and shit."

The smile instantly dropped from your face. "Okay... Well, are you here to place an order or just to take up space? I have better things to do." This was a lie. You had been literally falling asleep seconds ago. 

He smiled wryly. "Well, at least you're not afraid to speak your mind." He shifted and scratched his chin."Word on the streets is that you sell pretty powerful pokemon here."

You nodded. "Well, the streets sure know what they're talking about. We sell well-bred pokemon here; that is, pokemon that have remarkably good genes and are naturally good in battle. We also sell rare pokemon, if that's what you're here for. Although..." you narrowed your eyes at him. "I won't sell pokemon to people who plan on mistreating them or selling them again."

A look of intense rage crossed his face briefly before he closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Okay, first of all, I disbanded Team Skull a week ago. I don't sell pokemon anymore. Second of all, don't you _ever_ accuse me of abusing pokemon. I'm not a fucking _savage._ " 

You held your hands up in the air. "My apologies, sir. I didn't know. I'm merely stating company policy." 

"Whatever." He dropped his hand back onto the counter. "Anyway, I was actually hoping to talk to your manager about something."

"You're in luck, man." You grinned. "You're talking to him." You stood up and held out your hand. "Hi, my name is Y/N."

The former leader of Team Skull looked you up and down. You had the feeling that he was sizing you up, which didn't make any sense. It's not like you were planning on fighting him. He looked at least six inches taller than you, and at least seventy pounds heavier. Yeah, no chance of that. He finally grunted and shook your hand roughly. Goddamn, this guy had a grip of steel. "Guzma," he said. 

He released your hand, and you gestured to the sitting space to your left. "Please, take a seat." As soon as he turned away, you screwed your face up in pain and shook out the hand he had practically crushed. He crossed the room and sank into an armchair by one of the windows. You grabbed a clipboard and pen from underneath the counter and followed him, taking a seat on the couch across from him. "So," you said, "what are you looking for?"

Guzma huffed. "That's the thing. I don't really know. Something strong."

You gave him a crooked smile. "That's hardly anything to go off of. You're going to have to expand on that if you want me to be able to help you."

Again, Guzma pinched the bridge of his nose. "Something strong. I don't fucking know. I - okay, I'm going to have to explain this, aren't I? Fuck." He sat hunched over with his legs apart, elbows resting on his knees. "I'm taking on the Battle Tree, and I keep getting my ass handed to me, and no matter how much I train I can't fuckin' win more than five battles. So, I guess I'm looking for something to make my team better."

"That's a start," you said approvingly. "What's your team like?"

He started counting off pokemon with his fingers. "Golisopod, Aradios, Masquerain, Pinsir, Scizor."

"Ahh," you said, scribbling down the pokemon he'd named off. "I think I see the problem." You looked back up at him and grinned. "You need some variety on your team. Something other than bug pokemon. That's a huge weakness to fire, flying, and rock." You chewed on your pen thoughtfully. "Plus, none of those pokemon are particularly bulky. You need something that can take a lot of hits, that can last a long time. I'm thinking something like... Toxapex with the Regenerator ability. Resistant to fire types, good against fire and rock types in battle, very good defenses and recovery." 

Guzma stared at you, slightly slack-jawed. 

You smiled at him. "Thoughts?"

"How the fuck did you - never mind. You sound like you know what you're talking about. That sounds cool, I guess."

"Any particular nature?" you asked, continuing to write in your pad.

He shook his head. "Nah, that's fine. As long as it's not a bad one."

You wrote down 'bold nature' in your pad. 

"And... last question. Would you like your Mareanie to be perfect?" you asked.

Guzma gave you a strange look. "What do you mean?"

"As I said before, one of our specialties is well-bred pokemon. A perfect pokemon is one that has no flaws. It is as healthy, strong, hardy, intelligent, and fast as its species allows. This gives it a pretty huge advantage in battle."

Guzma narrowed his eyes. "You must need to do a lot of breeding." He was quiet for a little while. "What do you do with the pokemon that aren't perfect? Do you just release them?"

You blinked. You didn't think that he would care so much about the pokemons' well-being. "No, we don't. They've been bred in captivity, so they wouldn't be able to survive in the wild. We typically keep them around. Exercise them, feed them. Set them up for adoption for people who don't care as much about genes. Many of our pokemon go to loving homes. We do a background check on anyone and everyone who is interested in adopting them to make sure of that. We aren't  _savages_." you giggled and grinned at him knowingly. 

Guzma looked at you for awhile, a queer little half-smile on his face. "Nah, I don't want a perfect one." 

You wrote that down. When you looked back up at him, he was still staring at you. Finally, he spoke. "Are you in a relationship?"

You nearly choked. "N-no, sir. Why do you ask?"

Still with that smile, Guzma leaned over to grab the pen and pad from your hands. He scribbled on it for a few seconds while you watched him numbly. He handed you back the pen and pad and rose from his chair. "Call me when you've got that Mareanie ready," he said with a wink. He crossed back over to the door, opened it, and left. The bell jingled as the door shut.

You looked down at the number he had jotted down. You tried to process what had just happened. He had left you his number. But not just for business reasons. He wanted to _fraternize with you._ Did he think you were fucking gay? You weren't gay... right?

You thought of his stormy grey eyes, the way his body shifted under his baggy clothes, his sharp features, his immense size. Your heartbeat sped up, and you felt the blood rush to your cheeks.

Holy shit.

You were fucking  _gay._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit.
> 
>  
> 
> Y'all are fucking gay.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who has read this and to everyone who has left positive feedback! It means a lot to me. Also, headcannon Guzma is pansexual, for anyone who wanted to know. This chapter has a lot of description of the nursery, because I felt like the way it operated needed some clarification. Don't worry. The juicy stuff is just around the corner.

You stared at the ceiling, like you had been for the past three hours. It was no use. You sighed. You probably would not be getting any sleep tonight. It didn't matter that attempting to get the woman's Growlithe to be more comfortable around people had left you exhausted. It didn't matter that you had to stay up until midnight anyways, calling and texting Eliza frantically because she still hadn't returned from her catching spree. It didn't even matter that Manu and and Alana had finally given up trying to force Eliza to come with them and had used their ride pager to return to the nursery without her, forcing you to threaten Eliza with the loss of her job to get her to come back to the nursery. Maddeningly, you lay here still, wide-awake, thinking of nothing but the ex-boss of a gang, of all things. You kept thinking about his eyes, of his intense gaze that constantly straddled the line between passionate and hostile. 

You couldn't believe that you hadn't known you were gay before yesterday. Well, you guessed it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise. You hadn't had many friends in school, preferring to be around your pokemon. They seemed to understand you better than any of your school mates would ever have cared to anyways. You remembered thinking certain girls were cute, but never the guys. They always made fun of you for your relatively meek and sensitive nature, and you had tried to avoid them whenever possible. It was only when you started selling your pokemon that you started talking to them. And even then, you've always just thought of guys as customers. No more, no less. But yesterday... had sort of cleared your vision. You had realized how much attention you had actually paid to Guzma's body... which was a lot, and you couldn't stop thinking about it. You supposed that was bad, because he wasn't just a piece of meat, but... it wasn't just that. It was his confidence, his total lack of nervousness, the sense you got that if you let him, he would be able to protect and care for you.

You slapped yourself in the face and groaned. This was the ex-leader of a GANG you were thinking about. A criminal, a supposed menace to society. And yet, he certainly hadn't acted like it yesterday. He was very adamant that he did not lead a gang anymore, and he had shown surprising concern for pokemon. And it's not like he came in and trashed the place or anything. 

Dragging your hand down your face and letting it drop back onto the bed, you closed your eyes pointlessly. Abruptly, they snapped back open, and you threw yourself out of bed. This was completely stupid. You were not going to lay here all night. You were going to do something  _ productive,  _ goddammit. You padded down the stairs and immediately went into the back room. Throwing open the fridge, you stood there contemplating the contents intently. You grabbed the gallon of milk, unscrewed the lid, and proceeded to chug it straight from the carton. Wiping your mouth, you threw the carton back into the fridge and slammed the door shut. 

You took the bold-natured Ditto - which your employees had caught the previous night - out of the PC before grabbing your keys, pulling on your work boots, and going out the back door. You trudged to the relatively large building near the outskirts of your property. Somehow, you had managed to compile enough money to get it built last year. This was where the small to mid-sized aquatic pokemon were kept. You liked to keep most of your pokemon, if not all of your pokemon, out of their pokeballs as much as possible. Even though pokeballs were designed with the pokemon's comfort in mind, you still didn't like the idea of them being cooped up all day inside them. You unlocked the door and entered. You fumbled for the light switch. Finding it, you flipped the lights on and were greeted with the sight of multiple huge tanks, some of which stretched the entire length of the building. Pokemon could be seen swimming inside. You had designed the place so that you had separate tanks for each species, as well as separate tanks for each of their genders to prevent any unwanted breeding. You breathed in the organic smell of the place and set to work. You checked the temperatures of all of the tanks, cleaned whatever filters needed to be cleaned, and dished out food to your pokemon. You spent a little time playing with a mischievous Luvdisk that had, for whatever reason, decided to follow you around. Everywhere you went, the little heart-shaped pokemon followed, swimming alongside you to align himself with wherever you were standing in the room. You had finally relented and reached your hand into the tank. The little guy had eagerly swum towards your hand and pushed his smooth body against you, emitting shrill squeaks of excitement. 

When you were done feeding the other pokemon, you went to find your Mareanie. You had five at the moment - three males and two females - and only one with the Regenerator ability. You reached the tanks and crouched down to look at them through the glass. Four of them appeared to be resting, their spiny appendages covering their faces completely. The fifth stared at you impassively with his unnerving yellow eyes. You actually thought Mareanie looked kind of cute, but they weren't the most affectionate of pokemon. Guzma would have his work cut out for him raising one of them. Although, he had already raised a Golisopod - which was no small feat - so maybe he'd do alright. You straightened and grabbed the bag of food leaning against the side of the tank. You rolled open the bag and scooped up a cup of food before dumping it in the males' tank. You did the same with the females. The sleeping Mareanie started at the sound of the food splashing into the water, and their tentacles pulled back to reveal their faces. They used their tentacles to grab at the sinking food pellets and shove them eagerly into their toothy mouths. You waited for them to finish eating before rolling up your sleeve and reaching into the females' tank. You had tagged the Mareanie with Regenerator to distinguish her from the rest. You stroked the tagged Mareanie gently to get her attention. Her tentacles shivered where you touched her, and she turned to look up at you expectantly. You held out your hand to signal to her that you wanted her to climb up. You remained motionless as she used her tentacles to pull herself up onto your arm, then you slowly took her out of the water until you held her, dripping, over the stone floor. You stroked her tentacles with your other hand, and she chittered contentedly. You carried her over to a separate tank that you used exclusively for breeding your smaller aquatic pokemon, and dipped your Mareanie-laden arm into the tank. After she detached herself from your arm, you pulled it out, shook it off, and reached to your belt for the Ditto's pokeball. You released the Ditto into the tank, and watched as it transformed itself into a Mareanie. Your work here was done. Now all you had to do was wait for them to produce eggs. 

You left the tent, your aquatic pokemon taken care of for now. While you had been in there, the sun had risen, and it now appeared to be mid-morning. Shit! How long had you been in there? Your employees must have arrived by now. You took off at a run back across the field and let yourself into the building. Grabbing your keys, you unlocked the front door. Sure enough, all three of them were there. Alana, a black-haired girl who always wore a lot of eyeliner, was leaning against the wall, casually smoking a cigarette. Manu, a larger boy of eighteen, had let out his Meowth and was stroking it absentmindedly as he sat in the grass. Eliza looked to have fallen asleep. As soon as you opened the door, everyone except Eliza turned to look at you. Alana put out her cigarette, knowing you didn't like the habit, and glared at you with her hands on her hips. 

"Pardon my language, but what the fuck, boss? We've been waiting out here for at least half an hour." 

You sighed. "I'm sorry, guys. I just lost track of the time, is all. It won't happen again; I promise."

Alana shrugged. "Whatever." She walked over to Eliza and kicked her side lightly. "Wake up, dork. Boss is letting us in."

Eliza stirred and groaned, curling up even tighter. Alana rolled her eyes. "Good luck getting her up, boss." She brushed past you and took up station at the front desk. 

Manu recalled his Meowth and stood up, stretching with his arms held above his head. He let out a satisfied grunt and knelt down beside Eliza. 

"Hey, Liz, it's time to get up. We've got mouths to feed, fur to brush, feces to clean up," he said, grinning and shaking her gently.

Eliza grinned and giggled, finally finding it in her to open her eyes and sit up.  

"Okay, guys, just so you know, you don't have to do anything with the aquatic pokemon until evening comes around. I've already gotten that taken care of," you informed them.

Manu nodded at you, smiling. "No problem, boss." 

You spent the rest of the day helping your employees around the nursery: cleaning stables, brushing fur, clipping nails and teeth, feeding pokemon of all shapes and sizes. You had far too many pokemon to be able to let them all out at once, so you had to let half of them out for the first half of the day and half out during the second half, so they all ate and got their exercise in. Some pokemon, such as your Gyarados or your Salamence, were only let out every couple of days. They were too large and too hard to manage to keep out for long stretches of time, and when they were let out, you had to be the one to supervise them. They were your pokemon, and they trusted you far more than they did your employees. When you were looking for a place of your own two years ago, you had specifically chosen a property that had a large pond on-premises so that your larger water pokemon had a place to swim when you let them out. 

Even though it was a lot of work to keep all of your pokemon fed and happy, you enjoyed it immensely. And it wasn't like you had to constantly supervise them. Pokemon weren't mindless creatures, and many of them were kind-hearted in nature, so it was rare that they caused any trouble. You and your employees were content to stand by and watch as they played with each other over the sprawling grounds after all of the feeding and grooming was done. 

You met with eight customers that day - much more than the previous day - as well as several people who came in to adopt one of your already-available pokemon. Whoever was manning the front desk would let you know via call button whenever a customer wanted to meet with you. Like you had done with Guzma, you sat down with every customer in the sitting room to get to know what they wanted, how they wanted it, and to settle on prices. You typically had them pay up front, so they wouldn't pull some shit like make you breed a pokemon just to realize they couldn't pay for it. You also gave the woman her Growlithe. Of course, your pokemon were not cheap. At all. It took a lot of money to keep the nursery running and to pay your employees. And for good reason. You sold the finest-bred pokemon here, as well as pokemon that were typically extremely hard to find in the wild. Hell no were you just going to give them away. 

As you were scratching a Pikachu behind the ears, you started thinking about your encounter with Guzma the previous day. He hadn't stayed long enough to decide on a price for his Mareanie, and you had been too shocked to stop him from leaving. Did he even have enough money to pay for it? He was the ex-leader of a gang. Somehow, you didn't imagine he'd have enough money to pay for food, let alone a custom-bred Mareanie. And you had set the breeding for that Mareanie in motion without calling him to decide on a price. You carefully analyzed the situation, coming to the conclusion that you were... really fucking dumb. 

You huffed, giving the little electric mouse one final tickle behind the ears before crossing the yard back into the main building. You squeezed by Manu at the front desk with a rushed "s'cuse me" and checked customer info on the computer. Picking up the phone, you dialed Guzma's number and held the phone up to your ear. It rang once before he picked up.

"Yo."

You sweated slightly, suddenly nervous. "Uh, hey. This is Y/N. We talked yesterday."

"Ohhhh, it's you, huh? What, decided you liked what you saw?"

You flushed, stammering into the phone. "U-hum, well, I'm sorry to say that I still need some... time... to consider your, um, offer."

Guzma chuckled through the phone. "Not calling for that, huh? That's okay; take your time. I can wait."

Somehow this made you blush even harder.

"Uh, yeah, right, thanks." You laughed nervously, then mentally scolded yourself for acting like a twelve year-old schoolgirl. "Actually, I was calling to set a price for your Mareanie. Since it's a fairly rare pokemon, but you didn't want it perfect, I was thinking 80,000 pokedollars." You cringed, waiting for the explosion.

"Oh, yeah, don't worry about that. I've got that covered."

You actually pulled the phone away from your ear and stared at it for a second, disbelieving. Slowly, you returned it to your ear and cleared your throat. 

"Something wrong?" Guzma asked lightly.

"Uh, no, sir. Everything's fine."

"Why do you call me 'sir' all the time like that? I thought I told you to cut it with that shit. It's Guzma. Call me Guzma. When you call me sir I feel like you're talking to my fucking dad." 

"My apologies... Guzma."

He huffed out a laugh. "That's a little better." There was a pause. "Well, I'll see you when you've got my pokemon ready. And call me when you've decided on my 'offer,'" he said, laughing again before hanging up. 

You lowered the phone back onto its cradle. You felt eyes on you, and looked up to see Manu eyeing you with a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. 

"What?" you asked, indignant.

Manu laughed and shook his head. "Nothing, boss." He scooted past you and resumed his post behind the desk.

You breathed out slowly and started walking back into the back room. This was not good. This was so not good. What were you going to tell Guzma? And more importantly, why the fuck were you actually considering this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking pokedollars are about the same value as Japanese yen, so 80,000 pokedollars would equal about 700 U.S dollars, about 650 euros, and about 925 Canadian and Australian dollars.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told y'all I hadn't abandoned this. Literally kill me. When was the last time I posted? Like, a year and-a-half ago? Yeah that sounds about right. I'm so sorry. This isn't an excuse, but I'd just like to give you guys a run-down of what has happened in my life since the last time I posted a chapter.
> 
> I have:  
> -Completed a 50-hour internship at an animal rescue center, complete with a load of animal feces and me in rubber boots having to clean up said feces. Had to keep a journal, write an essay, make a project, and present the project. Fuck me. Now I actually know what it's like to take care of lots of animals, though.  
> -Graduated high school  
> -Got a part-time job at the dollar store. Now I know what it's like to work in retail  
> -Attended college all through fall, spring, and summer, amounting to a little over 40 credit hours  
> -Done taxes for the first time  
> -Wrote a 22-page research paper that tested my sanity and my ability to operate on 0 hours of sleep  
> -Painted a mural on a ceiling tile  
> -Still not acquired a romantic partner  
> -Wanted to die  
> -Dutifully ignored this story 
> 
> So yeah, hopefully I will be able to add more to this story. When I first started this, I came dangerously close to developing an obsession with this story, which would have made it extremely hard to accomplish any of the above activities. So I forced myself to not let this website take over my life and shoved the writing to the back-burner, then eventually I just stopped wanting to write it. But now I really want to write more, and eventually finish it. I actually had to play pokemon sun again because I like totally forgot everything about it. Hopefully you guys don't hate me now. Enjoy the story.

You were back in the aquatic housing a couple days later after consistent monitoring of your breeding pair. The Mareanie and the Ditto had finished breeding, and had created a little cluster of translucent bluish-colored eggs in the corner of their tank. There were three of them, all about the size of a baseball. The two lovebirds were nestled together over the cluster, resting with some of their tentacles intertwined. You were in front of their tank, squatting with your elbows on your knees, head propped up on your forearms, observing them. On the ground beside you was a big industrial bucket and leaning against the tank was a long-poled net.

It was time to separate the parents from their clutch, and this was rarely a fun time. You were going to have to put your pokemon back into their poke balls while you collected the Mareanie eggs. Sometimes this wasn’t necessary, as many of your pokemon were used to the drill and/or trusted you enough with their young, but this Ditto had never been bred before and Mareanie weren’t very friendly to begin with. Taking eggs from a Mareanie is like sticking your hand into a rigged bear trap. 

Sighing through your nose, you rose and recalled both your pokemon. The Mareanie shot awake with wide eyes at the sound of the ball and made a move to better cover the eggs before the red light enveloped her and sucked her in. The Ditto didn’t react as much, merely looking startled before it too was recalled.

You tucked their capsules back into your belt and grasped the handle of the bucket, dipping the lip of it into the tank and filling it partially with water. The bucket was lowered back onto the ground, and then it was the net’s turn. You grabbed the pole and maneuvered the net into the tank, carefully scooping up the cluster of Mareanie eggs from the side of the tank then depositing them gently into the partially filled bucket.

When hatching aquatic pokemon eggs, an incubator was used to speed up the process. This was the case with all of your eggs, but aquatic pokemon eggs needed a special kind of incubator – one that was able to provide the eggs not only with the ideal temperature, but also with a watery environment of the correct pH, salt content, and oxygen circulation.

So this is what you were doing now. Transporting your eggs over to the incubator, so they can hatch. And then when they hatched, you would figure out if any of them had inherited the bold nature. And then you would call the customer to inform them that their Mareanie was available for pickup. And then the customer would come to the nursery to pick up their pokemon. The customer in this case being Guzma. Who you would have to interact with. In person. Again. And try not to lose your shit. Fuck.

You hefted the full bucket with a grunt and walked stiffly towards your aquatic incubators, which lined the far right wall of the building. Currently you had five incubators (otherwise known as tumblers) and two of them were occupied with other customers’ orders - Magikarp and Poliwag. Your incubators were always full of water at all times – it was simply far too difficult and time-consuming to fill up the tank and get it dechlorinated every time you had to use it. You had a sump pump to ease the struggle of adjusting the salinity and pH of the water, and the incubators had a built-in system to heat the water once it was time for the actual incubating. And your filtration system kept the water clean, of course.

You popped the lid of the incubator and poured in the contents of your bucket. Setting the empty bucket down, you adjusted the settings on the incubator for Mareanie eggs. You added more salt to the sump to increase the salinity, tweaked the temperature a few degrees higher… and boom: five star Mareanie egg hotel.

You switched on the incubator and walked away triumphant. You wished it was as easy to figure out what to do with the Guzma situation. It had been two days since you had phoned Guzma to settle on a price for his Mareanie, and you still didn’t know what to do. Feelings weren’t your thing. You liked science, how clinical and impersonal it was, and it intimidated you whenever you had to confront your feelings, with you preferring to lose yourself in a procedure. This is how you became successful at such a young age. However, this is also why you’d never been in a relationship before. Or gotten kissed by anybody but your mom.

It honestly baffled you as to why Guzma even wanted to get to know you personally. Granted, he wasn’t the most entirely desirable individual either, with him leading a notorious street gang up until recently. But he was _someone,_ and a decidedly good-looking someone at that.

As all of this was buzzing in your head, you had gone through the motions of checking the other tanks in the room, doing what you had to to maintain them (feeding, cleaning, the works).

The rest of your day went pretty normally. You released your (decidedly upset) female Mareanie back into her tank with the rest of the females and gave her a rainbow poke bean to calm her down and reward her for being such a good sport. The Ditto was given the same treatment and allowed to frolic with the other land-dwelling pokemon over the grounds. You went back to the main building, met with a few customers, repeatedly reminded Alana to please get off her pokedex, the works. Typical work stuff.

You said good bye to your employees for the night and sat down heavily behind the front desk. Somehow during the next five minutes Guzma’s phone number got pulled up on the monitor and your heartbeat had increased drastically. Your hand hovered over the phone, shaking slightly, and you willed it to grab on and snatch the phone away from the cradle.

Come on, Y/N, what’s the worst that could happen?

Gnawing on the inside of your cheek, you dialed Guzma’s number.

It rang once.

Twice.

Your heartbeat had slowed considerably as the third beat rang out. Ah well, maybe he was asleep, maybe you’ll try tomor-

A click sounded from the phone as it was picked up on the other end.

Fuck. You had about a nanosecond to prepare yourself before –

“Hey.” His voice was deep and husky, like maybe you actually had woken him up.

For a couple seconds you were silent, too taken-aback to say anything.

“Is this actually a person or just a telemarketer? Because I’m pretty peeved right now and I wanna actually sleep tonight.” It was Guzma’s voice again, slightly more awake and considerably more annoyed.

You cleared your throat, your heart back to hammering a mile a minute.

“H-hey it’s me. Y/N. We uh, we talked a bit ago. About your Mareanie.” You sucked in a shuddering breath. “And I just wanted to let you know that… well I’ve been thinking and… do you - do you want to go out for coffee sometime? With me?”

Silence resonated on the other end. You held your breath, hardly believing you were doing this, as you waited for an answer.

Finally, a chuckle sounded from the phone, followed by slow inhale. You really liked that sound. Like a lot. Like you wish you could’ve recorded it to listen to later.

“So you finally came around, huh? I like that. I was beginning to wonder if maybe my judge of character was slipping, but nah,” he let out a satisfied hum, as if he were stretching, “I could fuckin _smell_ the gay oozing outta your pores.” He let out a small sigh. “You’re cute. Nice eyes, baby face, cute little innocent giggle. I’m glad I caught you.”

Your face was burning as he continued talking, your eyes wide, your hand clutching the phone tightly. _Holy shit._ “Thanks…That’s a yes, right?” your own voice was quiet and barely seemed to contain any power compared to his.

Guzma chuckled again. “Yeah, sure. Coffee sounds good. I wanna do shit with you, ‘else I wouldn’t have left you my number for anything besides business. Hmm, let’s see… there’s a real nice café on Route 8 on Akala Island, got a good view of the cliffs on the coast too. That okay with you?”

You balked. You only had four employees, including yourself, working the nursery. Being the only manager for this job (which had become pretty large-scale recently), you had been needing to work every single day lately. You had no fucking time for a social life or a relationship at all. What the fuck were you even thinking?

“U-hum, about that… I have to work my schedule around to find a time when we would actually go out, but yeah, that sounds good. Great, actually. I’ve been to that café before. It’s in the Pokemon Center by the motel, right?”

Guzma made a slight noise of disapproval. “Tch. All eager to go get coffee with me and you don’t even know _when_ you wanna go out.” He sighed. “Yeah, you’ve got the right one in mind. When am I gonna know what day’s good for you?”

You thought quickly. You’d been dealing with being overworked for a long time, but had been putting off trying to get any of the work loaded off you because the system worked as it was. Now that you were planning on going out you really needed to switch your system around or else you’d never be going out. Resolving to figure this out by the time Guzma’s Mareanie eggs hatched, you did some figures in your head. Okay, Mareanie eggs take about two months to hatch, but with the aid of the incubator, they can hatch in as little as a month. So that means –

“I’ll have my schedule figured out within the month,” you blurted. Fuck.

Guzma grunted in affirmation. His voice deepened to a purr. “I’ll hold you to that, babyface.”

Click. The line cut off from the other end. He’d hung up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for continuing to read this story, even after I've been MIA for over a year. It means a lot to me. Also I know that this is the second time in a row I've ended a chapter with a phone call with Guzma. This will hopefully be the last time I do that - it's getting repetitive.
> 
> I've got about a week until classes start again, so I'll give it my best to pump out another chapter in that time.


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